An 8-year-old girl who was home alone managed to save herself after a burglar broke in and began beating her.
Amedah Murillo was alone for about half an hour Wednesday afternoon, waiting for her older sister to come to their grandparents' Hemet home and watch her, when a man police identified as 35-year-old Darrell Hosie began knocking on the door and looking through the window.
"She kind of hid a little bit so he wouldn't see her, and she thought he was gone," said Yasmin Murillo, the girl's mother.
Unfortunately, the man had not left. As he smashed through the back sliding door, Amedah Murillo grabbed the phone and ran into a bedroom closet, where she called 911. According to her mother, the girl knew to call police because she was sure they were going to help her.
Whispering while she talked to the dispatcher, she told police what was happening. Then suddenly, the intruder found her.
"He grabbed her left hand and started hitting her on her forehead with her hand, she said around four times," Yasmin Murillo said.
Hoping police were getting close, the girl began to scream as loudly as she could. The intruder ran out the back, but police were able to catch him within minutes.
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With bruises on her arm and forehead, Amedah Murillo immediately hugged the officers when they arrived.
"The fact that in such a stressful incident she had the wherewithal to pick up the phone and dial 911.. she's a hero," said Hemet Police Department Lt. Glen Brock.
Investigators said Hosie was on parole for burglary. He was supposed to serve 18 years in prison, but his third strike was stricken from his sentence and he was given an early release.
That makes Yasmin Murillo furious. "The laws need to change, they do," she said.
